Plant protector



PLANT PROTECTOR Filed June 28, 1957 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented May 9, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PLANT PROTECTOR Starkie N. Slade, Sr., Durham, N. C.

Application June 28, 1937, Serial No. 150,853

1 Claim. (Cl. l1'7--28) The object of the invention is to provide a plant protector for use as a covering means for plants in the early stages of growth, so as to protect them from the elements and particularly from low temperatures; to provide a plant protector equipped with a dead air space that will insure against quick dissipation of the heat gathered from the suns rays; to provide a plant protector that will shield the growing plant from all directions except the south, so that it will get the benefit of the suns rays; and generally to provide a device of the kind indicated which is of simple form, susceptible of cheap manufacture and of a character making for highly efficient operation in use.

With this object in view, the invention consists in a construction and combination of parts of which a preferred embodiment is illustrated in the accompanying drawing but to which the invention is not to be restricted. Practical application may dictate certain changes or alterations and the right is claimed to make any which fall within the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing:

2- Figure 1 is a sectional View on the plane indicated by the line I-I of Figure 2.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the protector.

Figure 3 is a front elevational view.

Figure 4 is an elevational view of the setter ..0 by means of which the protector is positioned over the plant.

Figure 5 is a top plan view of the structiue of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a central vertical sectional View through the protector and the setter, showing the relative'positions of the two in the setting operation.

Figure 7 is a sectional view on the plane indicated by the line l-l' of Figure l.

Figure 8 is an elevational view of the protector but showing a slightly modified form.

Figure 9 is a top plan View of the structure of Figure 1.

The protector is made preferably from sheet o material such as waxed paper, or its equivalent, and the sheet is so cut that it may be folded to provide a hollow triangular pyramid of which the side walls Iil are unobstructed but the front wall formed of two flaps II and I2 which are slit, as indicated at I3, the slits providing means for the entrance of air which leaves the protector at the apex through the opening I4'. The flaps II and I2 overlap, as indicated at I5, and are connected together by any suitable means, preferably adhesively, as, for example, by a Wax composition with which the sheet is treated not only to make it impervious to moisture but to give it strength as Well.

On the interior, the walls IU are covered with sheets I6, adhesively secured to the walls at the 5 edges, except on those edges adjacent the ground when the protector is in use. The sheets I6 are preferably opaque and are cut full on the unattached edges, so that when the protector is set up the sheets drop inwardly toward the center 10 of the protector defining curves, as shown in Figure '7, and forming air pockets I'I with the walls I0.

Prior to use, when the protector is in a folded condition, the aps II and I2 are folded down 15 against the side walls i0 with which they are connected and in order that the sheets I6 may lie at against the side Walls, they are folded intermediately, as indicated at I8. When the protector is set up, the weight of the sheets` at the lower edges is generally suilcient to open the folds I8 but if not they can be readily opened by means of the fingers.

In order that the protector may be set up conveniently, a setter is employed, such as shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6, this setter consisting of a triangular sheet metal pyramid I 9 of which the walls are rolled at the upper ends to provide beads 20 which surround an opening 2| through which the apex of the protector extends. The lower edges are similarly rolled to provide foot beads 22. The walls are bulged preferably outwardly and when the protector is placed in the setter, as it may be when the setter is inverted, the walls against which the flaps I I and I2 lie serve as a sufficient 35 support for effecting adhesion of the overlapping edges of the flaps by pressure from the ngers. Those walls of the setter against which the walls I0 of the protector lie are bulged slightly outwardly in the center.

In setting the protector, it is placed over a plant by means of the setter, as clearly indicated in Figure 6, and the edges which project under the edges of the protector may be anchored by means of small mounds of dirt, as indicated at 23. The protector is set with the flaps I I and I2 faoing south and the wall provided by these flaps being formed only of the outer sheet which is transparent, the sunlight may reach the plant and air circulation is provided through the slits I3 and opening I4. But the tongue dened by the material comprehended between the two slits I3 may, if desired, be bent upwardly, as indicated in dotted lines at 24 in Figure 1, to provide a larger opening for the admission of air. But air will be present in the air pockets I1 between the sheet I6 and walls I0 and will absorb heat from the sun which will not be quickly dissipated because of the air being still. Thus the temperature within the protector is maintained at a sufciently high point to insure full protection for the enclosed plant.

The structure may be modified slightly, as shown in Figure 8, in which the slits, as indicated at I3', are not nearly of the depth of the slits I3. Thus portions of the flaps I I and I2 between the slits I3 are cut shorter at the edges than the remainder of the flaps, so as to leave a slit like opening, as indicated at 25, at the ground level. This arrangement converts the tongue comprehended between the slits I 3 into a flap valve which will provide for the admission of air.

The invention having been described, what is claimed as neviT and useful is:

A plant protector comprising a. hollow upwardly tapering body formed of transparent sheet material of which one wall is provided with an air inlet at the bottom, the body having an air discharge at the top, and opaque sheets within the body and secured at their edges to certain of the Walls thereof, the lower edges of said sheets being unattached to the body and the sheets at these edges being longer than the distance between the points of attachment of sheets with the body, so that the former will fall away from the body to provide dead air pockets in connection with the walls of the body.

STARKIE N. SLADE, SR.

Cil 

